11 comments:

Wouldn't it be great to see a commonsense Midwestern Republican in the running, though?

Sen. Hagel knows warfare -- and he could be the Republican candidate to finish America's work in Iraq. What can and can't be accomplished militarily.

We need a leader -- Democrat or otherwise -- to help focus us on the internal demographic and financial problems our country will be forced to confront soon.

This global war on terror has allowed us to ignore other pressing matters by defining them down via priorities. The warmakers had a chance to show us what they could achieve with superior firepower and unlimited resources; it's time to find a leader to get the job done, and work on the country's internal "maintenance" issues.

He might not be a movie star, but I suspect lots of folks will appreciate Hagel's quieter style of competency.

Hagel is better off with people not knowing too much about him. The more vocal he gets, the more conservative candidates will be able to stand up and throw molotovs at him. He's a liberal John McCain who's faster to the camera.

(Press conference right now.)

Damn, sounds like he's not running. A shame. Would really add some pyrotechnics and panache.

Funny, after watching more of the Hagel press conference, I wondered if he might be considering jumping to the Dems. But upon second thought, it would be a goofy move, and he wouldn't have a prayer in the primary.

However, guy from Real Clear Politics was on TeeVee wondering if Hagel might go independent. Yesterday I would have said no, but after watching the press conference, a definite maybe.

Senators make bad candidates for president; senators without executive experience (i.e., 'governor') make unusually bad candidates; senators without executive experience from lightly populated states make very unusually bad candidates; senators without executive experience from lightly populated states with no constituency save the 'main-stream' media make critically failed candidates, especially if they are nominally Republican.

Nebraska politics are weird. Our "Democratic" senator is Ben Nelson, who usually votes with the R's. Our "Republican" senator is Hagel, who cultivates media attention by criticizing Bush and the war. For a while we had the great football coach, Tom Osborne, as one of our reps in Congress. Last but not least, we have a black state senator who advocates for more-or-less racially segregated school districts!